Photo Credit: Randy Lange. NewYorkJets.com
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The long suffering that was the 2020 New York Jets season has come to an end, and for Jets fans it’s a sign of relief. Right from the start, the Jets did not look like the team that went 6-2 during the second half of the 2019 season. They looked much worse as a matter of fact and quickly became the laughing stock of the NFL (What else is new), and many thought they were going to finish 0-16. But it wasn’t all bad because many analysts believed that if the Jets were going to get the first pick, then get a “generational” talent in Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence. Not to mention that they will be relieving Adam Gase of his duties, so signs were pointing to the right direction for Jets fans. Unfortunately they potentially lost on the Lawrence sweepstakes, but with search of a new coach and potentially a new QB the Jets have a big decision to make.
The first and probably the biggest subject the Jets will target is a new head coach, general manager Joe Douglas will get his chance to bring in his own guy to lead this team by being the head of the search committee. Douglas, who is well respected all across the league, will search through college football as well as the NFL ranks to find the right guy for this team. What does it mean to have the right guy? The last ten years we have experienced Rex Ryan, Todd Bowles, and now Adam Gase; each one of them were unique in their own right but have faced the same result, Failure. Every single one of them were sought to be geniuses in their respective positions, but it’s clear that X’s & O’s mean nothing.
For the last ten years, the team has lacked accountability towards their players as well as the coaching staff. The Jets don’t need another player's coach, they need a disciplined guy who is no nonsense and motivates his players to be the very best they can be. The new coach has to also be involved with all sides of the ball not just to what they are good at, Joe Douglas is going to have his work cut out for him and it’s important that he takes his time with the search.
Once they hire the new coach, they will have to decide on what to do with the quarterback situation. It’s pretty safe to assume that Sam Darnold had played his last down with the Jets and that they will be looking for a new quarterback in the 2021 NFL draft. But with missing out on getting Trevor Lawrence, are the quarterbacks after him worth drafting with the 2nd pick?
If the team had gotten the first overall pick, it would be a no brainer that the Jets move on from Sam Darnold. But anyone after him does make it a little more interesting, the next guy after Lawrence would be Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields who had a terrific outing against Clemson on Friday night by throwing for 6 TD’s (not bad for a team who Sweeney ranked as the 11th best in the country). But Ohio State’s track record for quarterbacks in the NFL are not good and I wonder if Fields will follow the same fate. Then you have BYU quarterback Zach Wilson who had another strong season as well as a tremendous performance against UCF, throwing three touchdowns and running for two.
What they are going to have to decide is that are these guys better than Sam Darnold? Most likely Sam will be the odd man out because the new coach would want to start fresh. Best thing is that the Jets can trade down out of the 2 spot and gather more picks and possibly take one of those two quarterback if they stay in the top ten.
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